


Art of Deception

by weatherworn



Category: EXO (Band), K-pop
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-28
Updated: 2014-04-28
Packaged: 2018-01-21 04:49:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,148
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1538213
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/weatherworn/pseuds/weatherworn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sehun, a bookstore owner, meets Lu Han, an undercover art thief, and things don't go as planned.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Art of Deception

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the selubration fic exchange. Many appreciative thanks to hotarumyst for beta-ing and beating this fic into shape.

Sehun's bookstore is one of the only independent bookstores left in Seoul. It occupies a quiet street in the middle of the city and is called Oh! Books! He gets most of his foot traffic from the National Museum of Korea a few blocks away and more often than not, gets foreigners from all over the world pointing at him and going "Oh! Books!" with a wink or a wiggle of their eyebrows when they see his name tag. He would muster a smile for them and welcome them to the store.

"You should show more enthusiasm," Jongin tells him.

"I never should've named the store Oh! Books!" Sehun says sadly.

But other than that, Sehun enjoys his job as owner of a bookstore. Thanks to the museum, he gets a steady string of business everyday, immune to the encroaching threat of giant bookstore conglomerates. And in return, he offers a 20% discount to anyone who shows him their museum admission ticket. His best friend, Jongin, mans the coffee bar in the back of the store, which Jongin insisted would increase Oh! Books!'s profit margin. As always, he was right, so Sehun lets him stay.

Life is good, albeit a little boring, that is, until Lu Han crashed into his life.

\---

Oh! Books! closes promptly at nine every night. If someone so much as set foot through the door at 8:59, Sehun would shoot them a glare that has them scrambling back out into the darkness.

"Seriously, Sehun," Jongin chides, "you seriously need to improve your customer service."

One night, Sehun is counting his cash register when the door chime rings wildly and he hears the muffled thud of someone falling hard onto the floor of his book store. He glances up quickly to see a thin figure in dark clothing sprawled, limbs askew, with a large, flat rectangular shaped object strapped to his back. It looks like he had tripped over the threshold.

The figure scrambles to his feet. "Um, hi," he says.

Sehun doesn't know what to say, so he says the first thing that comes to mind. "We're closed."

The figure turns back to peek through the large glass partition of the store, like he was checking for something. Seemingly satisfied with what he sees, he turns back to Sehun.

"Oh hey, your name is Oh Sehun and you named your store "Oh! Books!" the guy chirps. He sounds proud of himself, like he's the first one to make that discovery.

Sehun is about to go over and just forcibly drag the guy out of the store. But then, Sehun suddenly remembers what Jongin said about improving customer service and he doesn't think pushing customers out the door by force qualifies as good customer service.

"We're currently closed, but you are free to peruse our wide selection of books during business hours," Sehun says haltingly, every word a struggle. It was one of the phrases that he had to memorize in the business owner etiquette manual Jongin forced him to read.

Sehun notices that the guy turns back around to peek through the windows again as he's talking, ignoring him.

"Sure, yeah yeah, I completely understand," the guy says distractedly. "I'll come back during business hours." He turns back to flash a grin at Sehun. "See you around, Oh Sehun of Oh! Books!" 

With Sehun staring, bewildered, the guy vanishes into the night.

\---

To Sehun's surprise, the guy does return during business hours a week later. What doesn't surprise him is how he trips over the threshold again, but quickly rights himself with an embarrassed look on his face. From Sehun's vantage point at the cash register, he can see the guy survey the room before disappearing behind the shelves.

Sehun turns back to the book he is reading, but finds himself struggling to focus. There's something fishy about that guy, but Jongin might say that Sehun was just being a misanthrope and suspicious about everyone. He takes care of a batch of customers who are ready to pay for their purchases. At the end of the queue is the guy with a tall stack of books in his arms that he has to hold in place with the help of his chin. His tiny chin.

"Are you always that clumsy?" Sehun asks, nodding towards the threshold as he starts scanning the barcodes.

The guy hands him a credit card and makes a face. "You have an unusually high stoop." 

Sehun glances at the name on the card. "Lu Han," he reads out loud.

"That's me!" the guy says cheerfully. He leans forward, his eyes sparkling. Sehun shrinks back. "Your friend told me that you're free this evening for dinner."

"My friend?" Sehun asks, confused. "Oh, Jongin. He's not my friend. He's an employee who's about to be fired."

Lu Han is undeterred. "Coffee?"

"How about you have a nice day and let me take care of the customers behind you," Sehun says. This guy is weird.

Lu Han smiles, as if he's enjoying this. "You're a tough nut to crack, but I like it." Grabbing the tote bag that Sehun gives to customers who spend more than 35,000 wons, he leaves without a backward glance.

\---

Lu Han enjoys being underestimated. It's not that he wants people to think he's inept, but he likes to catch people when they're off their guard. It makes his job much easier.

He stands on the ledge and checks the line again to make sure it's secured. He has already scoped out the place for about a week, poring over the blueprints of the building. Most museums employ around the same measures of security, it's just a question of where everything is situated. The thrill is always different each time.

He adjusts the plastic tube that he has slung across his shoulder. They still haven't discovered that the Portrait of a Beauty at the National Museum of Seoul is a forgery and Lu Han doubts they ever will. He had spent months recreating it, aging the paper meticulously and obsessively, after painstakingly examining every stroke of paint Hyewon had laid on the original. It's a masterpiece and it now belongs to Lu Han. 

But all the preparation boils down to about fifteen minutes of either triumph or failure. And failure is not an option. 

Lu Han takes a deep breath and gets ready to jump.

\---

Sehun likes having routine in his life. It makes him feel better when he knows what to expect in this chaotic world. He likes to go home after work, eat his dinner, take a bubble bath, and go to bed. It's this exact reason why he opened up a bookstore in the first place. It offers solitude, organization, and stability. He likes that he has somewhere to go everyday, and that once he gets to work, nothing would be a surprise. He would put the shelves in order, by subject, then by author, then by title of each book by each respective author. Customers are the only unpredictable factors, but even then their needs are often predictable after a while.

"So, this guy...," Jongin begins.

"What guy?" Sehun says.

"The one who asked me if you're seeing anyone," Jongin says.

"What about him?"

"Well, did you say yes?"

"What? No, he's weird," Sehun says.

"Really, I thought he was kind of cute," Jongin says.

"You do what you want," Sehun says, going back to his book. "Although, I'd like to remind you that you already have a loving and occasionally murderous boyfriend."

Jongin snatches the book from Sehun's hand, followed by searing glare from Sehun.

"Why don't you just go out to dinner with him at least once?" Jongin suggests. "Ever since you came out of the closet, you've kinda just shuffled back in there to hide."

"I am not hiding," Sehun insists. "I'm just not interested in anyone."

"You mean, no one is interested in you," Jongin says, cackling. "You own a bookstore, for fuck’s sake."

Sehun snatches the book from Jongin. He isn't sure he had started reading the book in the first place. It is about the life stages of monarch butterflies.

"Could you go away now, please?" Sehun grouses, trying to swat Jongin away like an annoying insect.

"Gladly," Jongin huffs. "I'm going to go call my boyfriend and ask him out on a DATE and have tons of FUN, you sexless fetus."

Sehun decides that the book about the life stages of monarch butterflies also makes a great object to throw at someone.

\---

Lu Han isn't quite sure what draws him back to the Oh! Books! bookstore. He likes to think it's the comprehensive selection of books that it carries, but who is he kidding really? The owner is cute and Lu Han likes cute things. That's why he got his nose fixed. He appreciates things that look good, plus things that are hard to get. He always has.

He enters the bookstore, mindful of the threshold, which for some reason he can't seem to traverse without any trouble. He plays it cool, slipping into the travel section in the rear of the store, which provides a suitable place to hide and stare.

Sehun is currently assisting a customer, climbing a small foot ladder to reach for a book on the top shelf. The movement of lifting his arm causes the hem of his shirt to rise just a bit, revealing the smooth, pale plane of his stomach. It needs to be immortalized, Lu Han decides, already planning the pencil strokes of his sketch.

When Sehun hands the book to the customer with a smile, Lu Han thinks that he should start with the face first instead. Sehun's face has a way of transforming from an unwritten page to one that opens like a book for the reader's pleasure.

Sehun seems to sense that Lu Han is staring because he glances up to look directly in Lu Han's direction. Lu Han doesn't bother to hide, his face lifting into a smile that he can't help.

"You!" Sehun exclaims.

"Me," Lu Han agrees mildly, gliding over. "Any second thoughts on dinner?"

"No," Sehun says firmly. Then he thinks about what Jongin said last night. "No," he says even more firmly. He then thinks about Jongin's annoying voice calling him a sexless fetus. He scowls.

"If he won't go out with you, I'd go out with you," the woman Sehun assisted earlier offers, smiling at Lu Han. Lu Han returns the smile, a bit flirtatiously, in Sehun's opinion.

A man sidles over from the self-help section of the bookstore. "If you need help saying yes," he says, "there's a book for that." He hands Sehun the book he had been perusing. Sehun reads the title: "Commitmentphobes and why you will always be alone." There's a caption that offers: "1001 ways to be in a happy and committed relationship."

"OK, fine!" Sehun says, relenting because this is getting a little ridiculous. "I will go out to dinner with you, one time." 

Lu Han beams as the two customers offer their congratulations.

\---

Sehun adjusts his tie and tries not to look awkward sitting alone at the restaurant table. He better have not been stood up, especially after all that trouble Lu Han went through, including coercing Sehun into a date with peer pressure.

Luckily, he watches Lu Han breeze in through the doorway a heartbeat later. There is a certain grace to him when he's not tripping through the door, Sehun thinks begrudgingly. And there is a certain attractiveness to him that unmistakable. Sehun shakes his head to clear it and raises his hand to catch Lu Han's attention. Lu Han sees him and his face blooms into a smile. 

"Sorry, I'm late," Lu Han says, sliding into the seat. "Have you ordered yet?"

Sehun shakes his head and takes a sip of water to calm his nerves. It's not that he's nervous about Lu Han, not at all, but because he doesn't want to make a fool of himself. 

After putting in their orders to the waiter, Lu Han leans forward to rest his chin in his hands that are propped up on the table. He looks completely relaxed and slightly predatory. Sehun thinks he should've ordered a glass of wine too.

"So," Sehun says, clearing his throat. "What do you do for a living?" He realizes he knows virtually nothing about Lu Han. He could be a missionary of an evangelizing religion trying to convert Sehun and Sehun's just not interested in exploring his spirituality at this stage of his life. Maybe wine is not a good idea after all. Sehun needs to have all his faculties intact tonight. 

"You can say I'm an artist," Lu Han replies. "I restore paintings."

"Oh?" Sehun says, perking up. He had not expected Lu Han to be much of anything, to be honest. "That's really interesting. I used to intern for a curator before I opened my bookstore and met a lot of artists who did stuff like that."

"And what did you think of them?" Lu Han asks.

"I don't know. You guys are kind of a secretive bunch," Sehun says, scratching the side of his head, which Lu Han finds adorable.

"We are," Lu Han admits. "It's because we have to keep our projects secret until they're unveiled. But anyway, tell me more about your internship. I'm really interested." Strangely enough, Sehun thinks he actually was.

\---

They tumble out of the restaurant, limbs askew, totally oblivious to everything but each other.

"Do you know," Lu Han breathes in between kisses, "how sexy you are?"

Sehun doesn't really, since the last adjective used to describe him was sexless, but Lu Han seems to think otherwise and the last thing Sehun wants to do is stop the kissing. His head is spinning and he's not exactly sure of what's going on around him because all his senses are assaulted with Lu Han, in the best possible way. He feels like he's being wrapped around like a blanket, comforting and safe. But like a sexy blanket too, because Lu Han's mouth is doing things to Sehun that feels like punches to his gut, leaving him gasping for air. Certain parts of him were also tingling with pleasure, but he'll rather not talk about it.

It's Lu Han who pulls away from their kiss, and it feels like a vacuum of warm air gets sucked away along with him. Sehun is left dazed and wanting more.

"It's time for you to go home," Lu Han murmurs, resting his head against Sehun's. Sehun can see each single strand of Lu Han's lashes.

"Huh, what?" Sehun manages to string together.

"I have to leave something for the second date, right?" Lu Han says, winking. Or he tries to wink because both eyes blink, one right after the other. Sehun kind of wants to go in for another kiss.

He thinks Lu Han can read his mind because he smiles like he knows and presses his lips against Sehun's softly, and Sehun can feel the smile in the kiss.

There is a brief moment of awkwardness as Sehun tries to get his bearings and call a cab, but has forgotten how. He's too far gone to even remember the direction of his apartment, it's like he drank three glasses of wine instead of the one, but luckily Lu Han places him into a cab and prompts Sehun for the address.  
Sehun looks back through the rear window and sees Lu Han getting smaller and smaller as he's driven away until his tiny chin disappears completely out of view.

\---

It takes a day and half for Sehun to recover from his Lu Han hangover and afterwards, he rubs his temples and wonders what the hell just happened.

"What the hell just happened?" Sehun wonders out loud.

"I don't know, but that's a really nice looking hickey you got there," Jongin remarks while drying out a coffee mug with a towel.

Sehun takes another deep sip of coffee and pulls up his shirt collar to hide it. "First we were talking and then we were making out. I don't even like the guy."

"Hmm," Jongin says.

"What?"

"What?"

"What's that 'hmm' noise?" Sehun says, narrowing his eyes.

"Well, clearly you like him if you're making out with him, right?" Jongin points out. He stops. "I feel like I'm talking to a child who's just learning about cause and effect right now."

"Don't make me throw this hot cup of coffee at you," Sehun warns. He sobers and his heart softens a little. "But you know what he was, though?"

"What?"

"He was a really good listener," Sehun says. "And he does this thing with his eyes, like they're staring into my soul or something." He makes vague hand gestures to try to express how it feels, but it doesn't quite convey it either. "And they're so...pretty. Ugh."

"Aw, our Sehunnie is in love," Jongin says. "I'm happy for you, man." He slaps Sehun on the shoulder and resumes his chores. 

The thing that troubles Sehun most of all about all this is that he has absolutely no control over anything. Lu Han comes and goes as he please and apparently, now Sehun's feelings (ugh) are refusing to cooperate as well. He finds himself wanting to see Lu Han trip through the door of the book store again right now and tries to squash those thoughts. He is a man and he is in control of his emotions and thoughts, he reminds himself.

He lays his head down on the smooth, cooling surface of the coffee bar counter and groans some more.

\---

For as long as he could remember, Lu Han was afraid of heights. The fear is visceral, debilitating, and completely irrational. He remembers his father taking him on a holiday trip to Yunnan province once to see the mountains. They went up one of the ranges, the path steep and exhausting. The view at the top hits Lu Han like a full force tackle, knocking all the air out of him. The landscape and other mountains laid before him, spreading to the horizon, and Lu Han learned that day how truly small he is. It was beautiful, but it was also terrifying. Lu Han felt his legs give way and he panicked that he was going to fall over the guardrails that lied beside the path, but his father steadied him.

"You have to learn to conquer your fears," his father told him.

Lu Han has been trying to do that ever since.

\---

The first time they discovered that a painting had been swapped out of the National Art Museum in Beijing, they could not believe it at first. The counterfeit was a perfect recreation of Guo Xi's _Early Spring_ down to the smallest brush stroke. Whoever the thief was, he was a professional. Several high level cadres came by the museum the day after the discovery of the fake and instructed them to keep it under wraps until they could get to the bottom of this. For this, they sent out Beijing-based detectives Wu Yifan and Zhang Yixing.

"So what do we have so far?" the captain inquired after asking them into his office. "Any leads?"

"Reports of counterfeit paintings seems to have tapered off in the last six months and the trail seems to have gone cold," Yifan reports, rubbing his temple in frustration.

"We believe he might have gone abroad. South Korea has reported several of their paintings to have been stolen and replaced with fakes," Yixing says.

The captain sits back in his chair and rubs his chin in contemplation. "Any information on the thief himself?"

"We know he's an artist, unless he's been contracting an accomplice to create the counterfeits for him, but all evidence seems to be that he's working alone," Yifan says.

The captain nods. "Okay, you two are going to Seoul."

\---

Lu Han breezes through the door of Oh! Books!, forgetting about the damned raised threshold again and trips through the door ungracefully, arms pinwheeling to keep himself upright. He straightens himself and smooths his hand down his shirt sheepishly and glances around to see if anyone noticed.

Sehun is by the cash register, watching this, and thinks it's adorable.

Lu Han spots him and floats over. "Hi," he says, resting an arm on the counter.

"I just saw you trip over the doorstep again," Sehun says. "I think you're a little too late in trying to impress me."

"Hey, I have to try, don't I?" Lu Han says. He moves out of the way so Sehun can ring up a customer. "I had a really good time at dinner last time." There's a teasing edge to Lu Han's voice that has Sehun flushing with the memories of that night. 

"Yeah, it was an alright time," Sehun croaks out.

"Hmm, sounds like you need more convincing," Lu Han says, amused. "Dinner tonight?"

"Tonight? What if I had plans?" Sehun retorts. 

Lu Han looks at him. 

"Okay, you have a point," Sehun relents. His plans for tonight includes a date with Netflix and his cat, Boo Boo.

"Sooo, date?" Lu Han says cheerfully.

"Okay, yeah, fine, whatever," Sehun grouses, waving Lu Han away. He is trying to appear uninterested, and he hopes it's working.

Lu Han looks pleased, much like the way Boo Boo looks when she's caught a dead mouse and laid it in front of Sehun and looks up at him like she was expecting a reward. It is a very disconcerting similarity.

"Hey, will you be interested in going to a gallery showing tonight?" Lu Han asked. "There is artist named Oh Jeong Il and he has a showing tonight to reveal some of his pieces. His work is interesting."

Sehun looks at Lu Han. This is the first time Lu Han has shown an interest in something that was not Sehun and it made him more real, more human, and less creepy to Sehun. "Yeah, okay," he agrees.

\---

"You brought me here to show me paintings of hair," Sehun says.

"Shhhhh," Lu Han hushes, aghast. "It's not just hair, it's about the contrast between light and dark, life and death, and the ways life interact with inanimate objects."

"But...it's hair," Sehun insists.

It is hair. The gallery showroom, the walls stark white, is decorated with large canvasses full of Oh Jeong Il's paintings of braided hair set against negative space. Granted, Sehun is impressed that Mr. Oh had painted each strand of hair and the paintings are so meticulously drawn, so full of detail and realism, that they look like photographs rather than paintings, but still. It's hair.

By this time, Lu Han has wandered over to the artist himself, who is sipping champagne from a delicate wine glass. Sehun scurries after him, feeling like this is less than a date and more like he was being dragged to something that only Lu Han is interested in doing. Actually, maybe this _is_ a date after all.

Lu Han chats with Mr. Oh for a while while Sehun drifts in and out of the conversation, although he makes sure to nod every once in a while to pretend that he is listening. When Lu Han introduces Sehun to Oh Jeong Il, Sehun blurts out in response, "We have the same surname."

"Ah," Mr. Oh says politely. "Well, it was very nice meeting someone who understands on such an intimate level the goals I was trying to achieve here. It was an honor to meet you, Mr. Lu."

"Oh my goodness, the honor is mine," Lu Han gushes. "Thank you for the lovely evening." When Mr. Oh drifts away to speak to another one of his admirers, Lu Han sighs. "What an inspirational man."

"I'm hungry," Sehun says, glaring at Mr. Oh's departing back. As if on cue, his stomach growls in agreement.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, Sehun-ah," Lu Han says, rubbing Sehun's arm comfortingly. Sehun kind of melts into his touch. "I did sort of abandon you here while I was off admiring other men. I'll make it up to you, I promise."

They go for dinner and to make it up to Sehun, Lu Han takes him for some ice cream afterwards. Sehun is appeased. 

"That's it? You guys just went for ice cream?" Jongin asks the next day, incredulous. "No taking you back to his place and getting down to kinky business?"

"Yes, it was a surprisingly chaste date," Sehun admits. "But I had a good time. You don't always have to get naked to have a good time."

Jongin snorts in derision. "Yeah, but you guys were ready to get down to kinky business right on the first date."

"Could you stop saying the word 'kinky'?" Sehun says, his toleration of Jongin particularly low before his first cup of coffee. "A person should not have to say the word 'kinky' so many times, especially you."

"What am I going to do with you, Sehun," Jongin says, shaking his head.

"He did give me a good night kiss?" Sehun offers.

Jongin groans and walks away.

\---

From his luxurious twenty-sixth floor apartment in Gangnam district, Lu Han has a particularly spectacular view of Seoul. In the mornings, he can see the sun rise on the horizon, gradually spreading its fingers across the expanse of the city, and at night, it is a mosaic of lights, small pixels that make up the picture of this elegnat city. It reminds him a lot of Beijing.

He misses Beijing like he does his own parents. But like most desires, wistfulness and nostalgia will wane over time and soon it will become just a distant memory. Lu Han learned long ago that attachment is a weakness. He is driven by what he wants, but he never gets too attached.

He turns away from the glass floor-to-ceiling window and looks around the living room. Canvasses lied around the spartan room, all in different stages of completion. Some, he will sell as his own works under a pseudonym. Thanks to some associates from the black market, he had been able to sell _Portrait of a Beauty_ for a nice sum. He was sad to let it go and had nursed thoughts of keeping it for himself. It was such a simple painting, but for reason, Lu Han had the most difficulty recreating it. He feels like it's his greatest achievement so far, the patience he had invested into the piece. It won't be long before the museum discovers that it's a fake, but by then, Lu Han will be gone.

\---

Yifan circles the room, studying each wall of the room, but particularly the one with a large gap between one painting and the next.

"Generally, security measures for public museums are not what people imagine or see in movies," Yixing explains, choosing to examine the counterfeit painting that was now lying on the table. Yifan tends to see the big picture better while Yixing has the patience to fish for the smaller details. "Because museums are mostly funded by public support and money from the government, they can't really afford state-of-the-art technology. However, they do set up alarms that can be tripped by intruders who don't know what they're doing. This guy knew what he was doing."

"Hm," Yifan answers. "He must've had information about the layout of this place then, if he knew how to avoid the alarms. Where will he be able to find that kind of information?"

"We're going to have to question the curators, and make a trip down to city hall," Yixing says, his mouth set in a grim line.

With the help of a translator by the name of Kim Jongdae, they questioned the curators and employers down at the zoning board office in city about anyone who had come to inquire about blueprints of the art museum. They arrive at several hypotheses at the conclusion of the day's investigation.

"The description of this guy seems to have some similarities among everyone we questioned," Yifan noted. "They all note a slight accent to his Korean."

"Which we already know that he's a Chinese national," Yixing says.

"Yes, but let me finish," Yifan says primly. Yixing bows his head slightly in apology. Yifan continues, "But what's strange is that among all of them, they all identify him as female."

"Yeah, that kind of fucked with my head a little bit," Yixing admits. "The shoe print we found in the last crime scene is clearly a man's shoe. So, we have a couple of possibilities here. Either he has an accomplice or he is in disguise when he went to examine the blueprints." 

"The identification he...or she showed them when they registered her at the zoning board was a university I.D. and it belongs to a...," Yifan says, drifting off as he fishes his notes out of his pocket. "A Chen Linxia of Yonsei University."

"Let's see if there really is such a person," Yixing says.

\---

Somethings keeps bringing Lu Han back to Oh! Books! Of course, it's the owner. But really, what is so special about him? Lu Han should've gotten bored of him a long time ago, a mere amusement, but he isn't. At first, Lu Han saw Sehun as a challenge, but then Sehun had melted into his hands like butter. Maybe it's because despite that, Sehun still holds a part of himself back from Lu Han. He can so childlike sometimes, in his mannerisms and thoughts about the world at large, but it actually hits a chord in Lu Han. There is still innocence. Lu Han kind of wants to protect that, keep it unsullied from the disappointments of the world.

He finds himself drifting into the shop again. 

Sehun sees Lu Han walking through the door, uncharacteristically early in the day. Whenever Lu Han comes to visit, he usually does so towards the afternoon or the evening. Up until now, Sehun thought Lu Han was a vampire of some sort. 

"Lu Han," he greets, finding himself smiling without his volition. He pushes it back down. 

"Oh, hey," Lu Han says, gliding over. "What's with the face? You look like a duck. Se-duck." He says this in English. Lu Han laughs at his own joke while Sehun doesn't find it amusing at all, although he starts to laugh, simply because Lu Han is laughing too.

Jongin passes by them. "You guys are nuts." 

"No, we're ducks," Sehun answers in between gasps of laughter.

Once Lu Han gets over his laughing fit, he straightens up, the lines by his eyes still crinkled in amusement. Sehun thinks they're beautiful. "So," Lu Han, voice breaking into a small giggle before he composes himself again. "I'm not sure what that was about."

Jongin passes by them again on the way back to the coffee bar, trying his best to ignore them.

Sehun wipes a tear from his eye. "I don't know either. Can I interest you in some coffee?"

Jongin tries even harder to ignore them.

Lu Han shakes his head. "Thank you though. I just wanted to come by and see you."

Sehun, flustered, turns a shade of pink that Lu Han thinks is adorable. He leans over and presses a kiss to the edge of Sehun's lips. This makes Sehun turn even pinker.

"Any plans for tomorrow night?" Lu Han asks. "Dinner, you and me." 

"I don't know...," Sehun says, still trying to play hard to get. "My cat and I might have plans."

"Aw come on, tell Boo Boo to take you out another time," Lu Han insists.

"Well, alright," Sehun says, looking very put upon. 

"Great," Lu Han says cheerfully.

\---

Yonsei University currently has around five thousand international students, many who are from China, so it wasn't too difficult for Yixing and Yifan to find someone to talk to. Many of the university staff at the bursar's office were able to speak with them directly because they have studied Chinese before.

One of the school administrators rifles through the records cabinet. "Ah, here she is." She hands them Chen Linxia's registration forms and a copy of the foreign student visa. A student picture is also attached. Yixing and Yifan glance at it.

"Whoa," Yixing says, eyes wide. "If that's a disguise, it's a good one." 

The girl in the picture has long, straight black hair with bangs cut straight across. Her face is small and delicate, large, soft eyes staring back at them.

Yifan quickly jots down the residential address written on the registration form. "Maybe this is where she lives."

"Hey, doesn't she remind you of someone?" Yixing asks.

"No. Why?" Yifan answers. "She reminds you of someone?"

"I don't know," Yixing says slowly. "I feel like I've seen someone who looks like her before."

"Girls like her are like a dime a dozen," Yifan says. "Maybe you dated her or something."

Yixing looks at him, eyes wide. "Oh....crap," he says. "I think I know who he is."

\---

Yixing stands before the door of the apartment. They have arrived at the address of Chen Linxia, or the person Yixing knows as Lu Han.

"So...," Yifan says, clearing his throat awkwardly. "You want to talk to him alone or something?"

"I told you already, we weren't lovers, Yifan," Yixing says in exasperation.

On the ride over to the apartment, courtesy of one of the detectives at the police station, Yixing explained to Yifan how he knows Lu Han.

"I was a really green rookie in the early days," Yixing began. "And I was called to take care of a pickpocketing case. Actually, several cases of people missing their wallets, cameras, and other valuables. It went on for a month before I tracked him down and arrested him. When I asked him why he was stealing things, because it wasn't like he was hurting for money, he said, "I wanted a challenge. Life is boring without challenges." I asked him if there aren't other non-criminal things that he can do. He said, "It isn't interesting if there aren't consequences.""

"This guy sounds like he's nuts," Yifan remarks.

"He seemed really nonchalant about everything while I was questioning him," Yixing continues. "But, he was scared too. He thought he was hiding it well, but I saw it."

Kris scratches his ear, confused. "So, what's the deal with this guy? He wants excitement in his life, but he's scared? Then why does he even bother?"

"Guess that's what we're about to find out," Yixing says.

He takes a deep breath and knocks. He had hoped that Lu Han would've given up his old ways after getting caught, but it looks like he's gone off to fry even bigger fishes. Yixing remembers Lu Han's eyes most of all, the way they looked at him, studying him down to the molecule. There was an easy intelligence in him that Yixing had admired, and even felt resentful that he doesn't possess himself. 

He knocks again, to no response. 

"You think he knew we were coming?" Yifan says.

"Maybe. I wouldn't put it past him," Yixing says. "This means we're running out of time." He takes out his mobile and starts dialing.

\---

Lu Han watches as the two detectives emerge from his apartment building from his vantage point on the roof of the adjacent building. He shifts his binoculars' gaze to the shorter one of the two. Recognition dawns on him, seeing the officer who had arrested him all those years ago. He had liked him a lot, unlike other officers in the force, brutal, corrupt, and stupid. For a while, Lu Han had contemplated settling down for Officer Zhang's sake. He had felt a kindred spirit in him, someone who also sought challenge and thrill in his life. Maybe in another lifetime, they could've been friends.

He thinks about his options. He always has a duffel bag pre-packed with the essentials, in preparation for moments like this, when he has to go on the run. He has it now by his side, carrying his passport and several fake ones with different aliases and several hundreds American dollars in cash. Everything else is expendable. All he has to do is to get to the airport and fly out of the country. 

He picks up the duffel bag and starts walking.

\---

Jongin trots into work the next day and the first thing he says as he whisks by Sehun is, "Hey, did you see the news this morning?"

"No, why?" Sehun says, looking up from counting the cash register. "What happened?"

"The museum reported one of their paintings stolen and a couple of other museums in Gwangju and Incheon," Jongin replies. "The one that was stolen from here was _Portrait of a Beauty_.

Sehun stops what he's doing, in disbelief. "Whoa, what? That's like one of our national paintings."

"Yeah, can you believe it?" Jongin says. "It was all over the front pages in the news stands while I was coming here."

Sehun chooses to ignore Jongin's implication of his obliviousness. "Did they find the person who did it?"

"The paper said that the investigation is still ongoing," Jongin says, thrusting a copy of the newspaper in Sehun's face. He leaves it with Sehun and starts getting the coffee bar ready for customers.

Sehun reads the newspaper article, anxiety settling heavily in his stomach. He is not one prone to worry, but he is concerned about how this will affect his bookstore's business. He tries to suppress his disquieting thoughts, reassuring himself that the theft of one painting shouldn't have that much of an impact to museum visitors.

It turns out that it's all everyone came to his shop wants to talk about. At least the news hasn't hurt his business so far. He wonders idly if Lu Han knows anything about it. It seems like something that an art restorer would be interested in. He keeps an eye out for him as he goes around assisting customers, finding himself missing him, even though he _is_ going to see him tonight.

Late afternoon rolls in and Jongin comes running in from his lunch break at the ramyun shop across the street, looking stricken. 

"Jongin, are you okay?" Sehun asks, alarmed. 

Jongin stops in front of Sehun and tries to catch his breath. "I was eating my ramyun and they were showing the local news on TV just now, and..and..."

"And what?" Sehun asks urgently.

Jongin looks at Sehun solemnly. "They're saying that it was Lu Han who stole the painting."

"What?" Sehun says with a laugh. "What are you talking about?" 

"I'm serious," Jongin insists. "If you don't believe me, go over there or go on Naver on your computer. I couldn't believe it myself, but just...just go on Naver."

Sehun walks back to the cash register counter and opens his laptop. It isn't the first time Jongin has played a practical joke on him. He has since stopped believing a word from Jongin's mouth since three years ago when Jongin told him it was Free Ice Cream Day at all Ben and Jerry's locations and it wasn't.

Naver loads the search and Sehun clicks into the first link. And there it is, a picture of a mug shot of Lu Han. It looks like it was taken years ago, judging by how young Lu Han looks. He stares back at Sehun, defiant and sullen. Sehun feels his body turn to ice.

"The police has reason to believe that the Chinese national, Lu Han, is responsible for the several thefts of valuable paintings, including Korea's national painting, _Portrait of a Beauty_ ,” Jongin reads from the article. "The picture has been provided by Chinese detectives, who are working in collaboration with Seoul police to capture the thief. He has been responsible for numerous other crimes." Jongin stops. "Oh, shit." He looks up at Sehun. "Hey, you okay, man?"

"Jongin, do you mind manning the shop for a bit?" Sehun says, finally finding his voice. He looks around the book store, but he can't seem to focus. All he can think about is Lu Han's face on the mug shot. "I have to take care of something."

"Yeah, okay," Jongin says hurriedly. "Just, uh, try not to get yourself killed or anything."

With that word of caution, Sehun takes off.

\---

Sehun is running across the street when he realizes that he has no idea where Lu Han lives. He doesn't know his phone number or any way to contact him. He knows nothing about him at all.

"Oh, god," Sehun says softly, feeling like throwing up. He stops and tries to pull himself together.

He feels so stupid. He feels betrayed and angry, but most of all, he feels like an idiot. How could he have been so fooled by Lu Han? How could he have not seen any signs that Lu Han was a criminal? He was probably halfway across the planet right now, laughing at how gullible and stupid Sehun had been. It makes him want to shrivel up and die.

Not knowing where to go, and not feeling like going back to the shop, Sehun decides to go home and wrap himself up in his blanket. That's what he really feels like doing at the moment, besides wanting to shrivel up and die.

Boo Boo is not there to greet him when he enters the apartment. "Boo Boo?" He calls out, entering the dim living room. Normally, on more days than not, his cat would come out of somewhere and greet him when he comes home. The fact that she hasn't just compounds his misery.

"Sehun-ah."

Sehun lets out a yelp and grabs for the closest solid object to throw at the intruder, which turns out to be a hardcover copy of _Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows_ , but he stops when he squints a little harder, then he proceeds to hurl the book anyway. There is the sound of shuffling, the thump of the book making solid contact, and a cat yowling. Oh, there's Boo Boo.

"Ow!" Lu Han cries.

"What are you doing here? How'd you get in?" Sehun demands, trying to reach for another book in the series throw at him.

Lu Han emerges from the shadow, looking a little worse for wear. There are dark circles under his eyes and he's rubbing the spot where he was hit, wincing. "I take it you saw the news."

"What are you doing here?" Sehun says, his voice hard. 

Lu Han drops his gaze to the floor. "I made it to the airport before they started showing me on the news and I had the plane ticket and everything. All I had to do was get on and this whole mess would be behind me." He pauses and looks back up at Sehun. "But I couldn't."

Sehun scoffs, incredulous that Lu Han was still taking him for a fool. "Get out," he says.

A shadow of pain passes across Lu Han face before it's gone again. "Sehun, I know you're angry," he says. "But hear me out."

"What do you have to say that will change anything?" Sehun says, wanting to be as cruel as Lu Han has been to him.

"I didn't lie to you," Lu Han says. 

Sehun laughs and it sounds strangled and ugly. "How can you say that? You've been lying to me this whole time."

"I kept the truth from you, but I never lied when I was with you," Lu Han says. "Everything that I've said to you was the truth."

Sehun really can't take anymore of this. He sits down on the couch, not even caring if he's left vulnerable in case Lu Han is planning on killing him this evening to silence all witnesses of his crimes. He is just tired to the bone of everything. "Why did you come here?" This is what Sehun really wants to know. "Why did you steal the painting?"

He doesn't get a response right away. "I don't know," Lu Han finally answers. "I don't know why I do anything of these things."

"Bullshit," Sehun says.

"Yes," Lu Han agrees. "Someone once told me that too." He pauses again. "I told him I was bored with life and wanted a challenge. He said I was doing all of this because I was scared of life. And I was doing everything to prove that I wasn't."

Sehun shifts to look at Lu Han again. For the first time, he sees it. There's fear and uncertainty in Lu Han's eyes as he looks back at him. He doesn't try to hide it anymore. 

"Well, what about that hair guy who draws all the hair?" Sehun asks. "Did you steal from him too while you were out on a date with me?"

"What hair guy?" Lu Han says, tilting his head in confusion. Then his face clears. "Ohhhh, Mr. Oh. No, I would never steal from a living artist."

Sehun gives him a withering look.

"Look, I'm not completely immoral," Lu Han tries to defend himself. "That was just me admiring his work and hoping that you would enjoy it, too."

"But...it's hair," Sehun says. He stops and shakes his head. "But that's besides the point. You said you never lied to me. I still don't believe you, but keeping the truth from me wasn't great either. I can't believe I was so blinded by you." 

"Sehun," Lu Han says softly. 

"I don't think I ever want to see you again," Sehun says. He doesn't want to hear any more of Lu Han's excuses and even more, the hurt in Lu Han's voice. "Just...leave."

He doesn't move from the couch until Lu Han is gone, the living room window left ajar in his wake.

\---

The next morning, Sehun wakes up with a raging headache. His dreams had been muddled and disturbing and it left him as if he hadn't slept at all. He lies on the bed for a moment, wondering if last night really happened. He rolls himself into a blanket burrito and groans into his pillow. His life is not supposed to be this complicated. He had made sure of it.

Finally, he gets up and starts getting ready to go to work. He is tempted to take another day off, but he doesn't think Jongin would appreciate that. He already thinks he's getting underpaid as it is. 

Lu Han's face is still everywhere on the news. Sehun idly wonders if Lu Han made it out of the country and whether he felt good or bad about it. He still hasn't come to a conclusion by the time he gets to work. Jongin arrives shortly after and tries to give him a hug, which Sehun rebuffs, but appreciates the gesture nevertheless.

Shortly before three in the afternoon, two Chinese detectives and a translator come into the shop. They want to ask Sehun some questions. Before Lu Han appeared, Sehun has tried his best to avoid interacting with cops, because they kind of scared of him a little.

"Were you aware of Mr. Lu's criminal activities at all?" The detective who identified himself as Zhang Yixing asks.

"No," Sehun answers dutifully, but inside, he's annoyed that they suspect him of any complicity. He is a victim too.

"Has he tried to make any contact with you since yesterday?" Yixing continues and waits for Jongdae to translate.

It's important not to hesitate. "No," Sehun says, impressed by the steadiness in his voice. He never thought he had it in him. "Why would he?" He has another question of his own. "How do you know of me? I've only known Lu Han for like a month."

The detective pause and look at each other, as if they were deciding whether to tell him. The taller of the two, who said his name is Yifan but Sehun can call him Kris, flips open his case file and hands a photograph to him. Sehun takes it and looks.

It is a photograph of large canvass leaning against a wall inside what seems like an apartment. It is cordoned off with police tape and the arm of a crime scene investigator is captured in the photo trying to dust prints off it. What is on the canvass catches Sehun's attention. It is a watercolor portrait of him, bursts of bright colors and lines set against white. His eyes are directed somewhere beyond the picture, swirls of brown, intense and piercing.

"Oh, my god," he says softly. "Oh, my god."

\---

Questioning Oh Sehun hadn't yielded much information and Yixing feels kind of bad for having to put the kid through it. He hangs his jacket on the back of his chair and takes a seat in the interrogation room that has been their makeshift office at the police station.

"He's so young," he remarks to Yifan.

"Easier to deceive, I guess," Yifan replies. "Korean authorities are also looking to indict him for charges of grand larceny and they're even labeling him a terrorist."

"This is turning into an international disaster," Yixing says with a heavy sigh. "The captain says he has to be extradited to China first, no compromise."

"Well, shit," Yifan says simply.

"Well, shit indeed," Yixing agrees.

"No, I meant, shit, I think Lu Han just walked into the lobby," Yifan says, nudging Yixing and pointing out the window of their office. They both exit the room and stare at Lu Han as the receptionist direct his attention to them. He smiles when he sees them.

"I think you guys are looking for me," he says.

\---

In an effort to try to cheer Sehun up, Jongin insists that they invite a few friends out for dinner. He'd looked so excited at the prospect that Sehun didn't have the heart to say no, because he really just wants to go home and roll into a blanket burrito again. However, before they meet up with their friends, Sehun explicitly instructs, although Jongin would say threatens, him not to say a word about his connection to Lu Han, currently the most wanted man in Korea.

"Okay, okay," Jongin says, trying to escape from Sehun's stranglehold. "I'm not stupid or anything."

"That's yet to be determined," Sehun says grimly.

Everyone felt like having some samgyupsal, so that is where they went. Sitting around the grill at the restaurant, surrounded by his rowdy friends, Sehun feels a little bit of normalcy return to his life from the whirlwind of the last twenty-four hours.

"You know, I wonder what that thief does with all the paintings," Baekhyun says, the one who usually steers the conversations. Jongin shoots Sehun a look. Sehun shakes his head at him and doesn't say anything.

"He sells them, of course," Chanyeol replies. "What else is he going to do with them? He probably gets like a trillion won for each of them."

"I can't believe he was able to create fakes that were able to fool people for this long," Junmyeon says, sounding impressed.

Jongin hastily throws a couple more slices of beef onto the grill. "Come on, you guys are using your mouths to talk about shit you don't know. Use them to eat instead."

"How poetic you are," Kyungsoo says. He looks at Sehun. "You okay there, kid? You haven't said anything since we sat down to eat."

"Yeah, I'm fine," Sehun answers quickly, maybe too quickly. He avoids Kyungsoo's eyes by looking everywhere else and his eyes land on the hanging television by the corner, across the room from him. The news have been running nonstop since the theft of museum paintings have been exposed. The volume is on mute, but Sehun scans the headlines running across the bottom of the screen. His heart involuntarily lodges in his throat when they show the mug shot of Lu Han again. Then one of the headlines makes him choke on the piece of meat he's been chewing.

_Breaking: Art Thief Surrenders Himself to Police._

"Sehun?" Jongin says tentatively, shaking him gently. "Hey, are you okay? What's wrong?" He turns to look at the television too and his jaw drops open.

"Uh, guys?" Kyungsoo says uncertainly. He puts his hand on Jongin's knee. "Jongin. You guys are scaring me."

Sehun stumbles unsteadily to his feet. "I-I've got to go. I'm sorry guys, I'll make it up to you next time." He hurries out into the night and leaves it to Jongin to explain.

\---

Yifan and Yixing stares at Lu Han, sitting across the interrogation table from them. He stares serenely back at them.

Yifan finally speaks. "Nothing you do makes sense."

"I get that a lot," Lu Han agrees. He turns to Yixing. "Hi, old friend."

Yixing grants him a small smile. "You've caused a lot of trouble, Lu Han. I take it you know exactly what you're in for."

Lu Han nods. 

"Then why did you turn yourself in?" Yifan asks, narrowing his eyes at Lu Han. "I think you have something up your sleeve. I don't trust you."

"Trust me or not, I'm here, aren't I?" Lu Han says, sitting back in his chair. "I promise I don't have any ulterior motives."

"If what you say is true," Yixing says, "Then you should have no problem telling us everything, including where the paintings have gone."

Lu Han stretches his hands out, palms up, the cuffs around his wrists clinking against the table. "I'll tell you everything."

\---

Before meeting Lu Han, Sehun has never been to the police station, so this is another new experience Lu Han is putting him through. After being told that he won't be able to see him because he's being held for questioning, Sehun leaves, dejected, but also feeling kind of stupid because, why should he care about him anymore? He'd just ran over to the station without hesitation, like he's Lu Han's...Sehun tries not to think about it too much.

It won't be another month before Sehun is able to visit Lu Han and it's Detective Zhang who swings by Oh! Books! to tell him, translator Jongdae in tow again.

"Is he...okay?" Sehun asks. "What's going to happen to him?" 

"He was very cooperative," Yixing informs him. "We were able to actually recover one of the stolen paintings with the information he has provided and I'm hopeful we can get back the rest, including the ones he stole from your museums."

The weeks that passed has given Sehun time to reflect and he feels a little more forgiving. "I still can't believe Lu Han is a thief. When I first met him, he tripped through the front door. How could he have-?" He doesn't finish the sentence, falling silent.

Yixing looks sympathetically at him. "He really doesn't seem like much at first glance."

"He really doesn't," Sehun readily agrees. Jongdae chuckles a little as he translates.

"Has he said anything," Sehun begins. "Um, you know, anything about, just, you know..." He glances at Jongdae in desperation.

Jongdae nods reassuringly. "I got you," he says to Sehun and turns to Yixing.

"He told me why he turned himself in," Yixing says simply and a bit too cryptically for Sehun's taste. "But maybe you should talk to him yourself."

Sehun twists the ribbon bookmark that he's been holding around his hand and clenches his jaw. "Maybe."

\---

The prison doors clang behind him with each corridor that Lu Han passes, his hands shackled in front of him. The guard leads him to the visiting room, a neat row of seats in front of a glass partition, mirrored by another row of seats directly across. Sehun is sitting on one of them, on the other side. He stands when he sees Lu Han, his eyes wide and so innocent. Lu Han suddenly doesn't want Sehun to see him like this. He forces himself to walk forward and take a seat.

"Hi," he says, his voice a little hoarse from lack of use. "How are you?"

Sehun stares back at him, his eyes boring into Lu Han. That was what had always kept Lu Han intrigued, the youth and innocence in Sehun that's offset by those fucking eyes. "I don't know why I came to see you," Sehun admits. "I'm still really angry with you. And-and I shouldn't hang out with people like you."

Lu Han thinks it's adorable that whenever Sehun gets frustrated or angry, his pronunciation of words starts getting fuzzy around the edges. Another contradiction in the riddle that is Sehun. But now's not the time to think about such things. "I didn't expect you to," Lu Han says. He hesitates. "But I was hoping you would."

Sehun crosses his arms stubbornly. "This doesn't mean I've forgiven you."

"I didn't think so," Lu Han says.

Sehun leans forward and almost knocks his head against the glass. "Did you-did you ever even care about me?" He says in a rush, like he'd been afraid to ask and had only been able to get it out in a gust of bravado. "Why do I still care if you don't?" He chokes up at the last word and sits back against the chair, looking defeated.

Lu Han swallows hard the lump in his throat. "I do care," he says. He bites his lip. "To be honest, at first I was only interested because you were so adamant about not liking me. It was a challenge I couldn't resist. You were so cranky, it was fun to see if I could get you to smile. I wanted to see if I could solve you. But then I realized you weren't that hard to understand after all."

"Hey," Sehun says in protest.

"Wait, hear me out," Lu Han says. "You are a good person. I'm not. It's as simple as that." He falls silent. "But I'm trying to fix that."

"Why?" Sehun says.

"Why, what?"

"Why do you steal?" Sehun says. "Why do all these things? You're...not what I imagine a criminal to be."

"You'd be surprised," Lu Han says, looking away. "Detective Zhang is right. I'm scared. I've been scared my whole life and that makes me feel inept and insignificant. The first time i stole something, it made me feel powerful and for the first time, it felt like I had control of my fears. I've been trying to recapture that thrill ever since."

Sehun is quiet as he thinks about what Lu Han's said. "Then why did you turn yourself in?" He says finally.

"When you told me that you never wanted to see me again," Lu Han says. "I don't know, It felt like everything was out of control again. I felt...pain, when I thought I wouldn't. I thought I could leave everything behind, but I couldn't bring myself to. I'd lost control of myself again. I thought it was time to stop." He finally looks at Sehun, his eyes round and watery.

Sehun rubs his eyes wearily. "Ugh, why did you come into my life? It was so peaceful and-and uncomplicated before you did."

"I'm sorry," Lu Han says softly. 

Lu Han hears the guard shift behind him. "Time's up," the guard announces sharply.

Lu Han is reluctant to leave, but he gets up anyway. "Thank you for coming to visit me, Sehun-ah. You didn't have to, but I'm-I'm really happy you did." His voice is getting thick with emotion and he tries to clear it. "I wish you the best, Sehun. I want you to be happy." He turns away before Sehun can see the tears fall. He walks away without looking back.

\---

A few weeks later, Lu Han is granted another visitor, this time Detective Zhang.

"Where's your lovely partner?" Lu Han asks.

"He's off somewhere," Yixing says amiably. "He's taken a real liking to this city."

"It is stunning," Lu Han says, nodding. "Especially at night." He fiddles with the book he's been reading, one that he had bought from Oh! Books! "So, I guess you're here to tell me what happens next."

Yixing nods and pulls over the chair from the desk that Lu Han has been granted to have. All things considering, they haven't treated him too badly here, probably because he's been cooperative and has offered so much information to them.

"I've spoken to the authorities in Beijing and they came to a decision," Yixing says. "They've agreed to let the Koreans do whatever they deem fit for you first, so you're definitely going to serve time. I've also recommended to the judge that you receive psychiatric evaluation and counseling because I think you need to work through some stuff."

Lu Han nods, fully expecting that.

"But," Yixing continues. "They've only agreed to this under one condition. They have a proposal for you."

"Huh?" Lu Han says in surprise. The Chinese authorities are not ones to offer conditions and proposals. He braces himself for what Yixing has to say next.

"After you've served your time with the Koreans, some of the cadres want to know if you're willing to work for them," Yixing says.

"Huh?" Lu Han says again. "What do you mean?"

"They're aware that you have some knowledge of the black market in stolen art," Yixing explains. "And the theft and black market for valuable art has been a big thorn on their side for a while. They're willing to forgo your prison sentence if you can help them dismantle it."

"What, like go undercover?" Lu Han says in disbelief.

"Well, if you want to get all James Bond about it," Yixing says. "Yes, you'll be going undercover to gather evidence. Everyone here knows your face now, but we've kept things pretty quiet back home."

"But word does spread very quickly," Lu Han warns. "Plus, things change faster than you think. By the time I get out of here, all my networks are going to be gone."

"Well," Yixing says, a smirk playing on his face. "It's definitely going to be a challenge for you then, isn't it?" He adds, "And you do have a gift for disguise." His smirk gets wider, revealing the dimple in his cheek. 

Lu Han stares at him, rendered speechless. "Fine," he says in a huff. "But you can be a real bastard sometimes, you know that?"

"It's who I am," Yixing says cheerfully.

\---

Contrary to Sehun's worries, the art thief scandal, as Korean media has come to call it, increased the bookstore's revenue in the last quarter of the year. Visitors to the museum, intrigued by the now returned _Portrait of a Beauty_ , come in masses into the bookstore to find art history books to learn more about the painting and its artist, Hyewon.

Sehun should be happy, but his thoughts lie elsewhere. He moves through the day going through the motions because it's the only thing he knows to do. He has not gone back to visit Lu Han since their last conversation, which had an air of finality to it. Sehun doesn't feel it though. More than anything, he wants to stop thinking about Lu Han and go back to his life before, one that holds no surprises and one in which Sehun knows exactly how the day is going to go. Sehun is beginning to understand better what Lu Han means about letting emotions take control.

"Urghrugh," he says into the shelf he's currently re-organizing

"If you want my opinion," Jongin says, "I think you're being lovesick."

"If you want my opinion," Sehun says, "I care nary for your opinion."

Jongin waves the harsh remark away magnanimously, feeling sorry for Sehun. "He's not a terribly awful person," he offers. "He turned himself and everything."

"But he's a-a _criminal_ ," Sehun says. "What if it's like dating a superhero and people try to kill me to get to him if he pisses them off?"

"....Maybe you should stop reading so much," Jongin says slowly. "Maybe just back away from the bookshelf a little."

"I haven't even known him for that long," Sehun says ruefully. "I thought I knew him at least a little when we were together, but it's like he's a complete stranger now. And it's not even just about finding out who he is, but the way he talked when I saw him last time. He sounded so...not like himself."

"Hmm," Jongin says.

"Hmm, what?"

"Maybe that's the real him," Jongin points out. "I mean, maybe it's also still another facade that he's putting on. I don't know, Sehun. It can go either way and I guess if you don't want to get hurt, then don't see him anymore." He walks away to leave Sehun to his thoughts.

Sehun bangs his head against the shelf several times, feeling even more dissatisfied than before Jongin spoke to him, but he can't fault him for that. He stares at the bind of the book in front of him, trying to decide what to do. All these rows of books about adventures, tragedies, and every one of them offers an ending, whether good or bad. Sehun can't even see his.

\---

Because Lu Han has pleaded guilty, a trial wasn't necessary and a sentence was passed down shortly. He is going to serve five years in prison with the possibility of parole on the basis of good behavior and other pertinent information he might be able to offer in the future.

"Oh god, five years," Lu Han says sadly. He counts on his fingers. "I'm going to be so old by then."

"You reap what you sow, Lu Han," Sehun says sternly.

"Yes, I know," Lu Han says. He bats his eyelashes at Sehun. "Would you still love me when I'm no longer young and beautiful?" He stops when he sees Sehun's unamused face, feeling chastised. "Too soon?"

"Too soon," Sehun replies. "Just because I'm here doesn't mean I've forgiven you yet."

Lu Han lowers his head in abjection.

"But," Sehun starts. He clears his throat, then clears it again. "Maybe I didn't really get the chance to know you, you know, the real you. And I think I would like to. So, I guess what I'm trying to say is, my name is Sehun. What's yours?" He punctuates this with a strangled noise of awkwardness. When he finally looks up, Lu Han is smiling at him, fondness and affection making his eyes twinkle.

"My name is Lu Han."

With the glass partition still between them, Sehun reflects on whether this is the best of ideas, because never in his life had he expected to associate himself with an art thief and convict, so carefully he had made sure that his life holds no unwelcome surprises. This one, he might be willing to live with the consequences, whatever they may be.


End file.
